Navy F18 crashes in Virginia Beach, crew ejects safely

Scary image.

A person on the news said they saw "sparks" coming out of the engines of the aircraft before it crashed. Possible double bird-strike?
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

It happened about one mile from where my fiancee and cousin live. Predictably, everyone was a bit shaken up, but it appears that it may have turned out as well as possible, but still unsure. Unconfirmed reports of two injuries. That area is pretty densely populated.

 

From one of the witnesses.

 

Live stream: http://www.wtkr.com/news/livestreams/

I was supposed to be in VA beach today to pick up a trunk, but decided not to go. Scary.

 

Good updates here: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/04/f-18-crashes-virginia-beach/50837/

 

I'm not sure which is a worse feeling, knowing you are about to have to eject or that your aircraft is headed into a densely populated area and you can't do anything about it.

 

This....

Hopefully no fatalities on the ground.

Jedi

 

From what I could see of the fuselage of the FA-18, one nozzle was open and one nozzle was closed. Same as the other F-18 crash.

 

Newspaper headline:

"...2 Navy pilots eject from jet and send fighter careening into apartments....."

No need to bother with an investigation.....they're guilty.

 

Yup.

 

Oh jeeze. What crap rag is that from? I can tell you that the feeling is not shared by many around here, including those who were in the apartment complex. Most are lauding their efforts and pointing out the fact that they came down pretty damn close to the airplane. They obviously stayed in as long as they could, but there just weren't a lot of options, obviously.

A friend called a while ago and said one of the ejection seats landed in his daughter's back yard! Yikes! I drove by the site on my way home tonight, and it is pretty much unrecognizable. It is MOST fortunate that no one was killed or seriously injured. Out of 7 people injured, 6 have been released and one is being kept for observation, I believe. When you see the apartment complex, it's hard to believe, but hey -- no one is complaining. Truly a "good" Friday.

 

Sorry, the 'sarcasm' type font didn't work......

 

I saw the nozzles too but I would guess that the left was shutdown and the right was in blower at impact.

It really is a miracle that nobody was killed. Thank God.

 

I think 3 people have yet to be found...

edit: nevermind, they have been thankfully.

 

I picked up on it

 

I appreciate the decision making capability of the Navy aviators in command of the F-18 during this emergency situation.

They waited until the last minute before ejecting.

Clearly, they knew they were in trouble and cared enough to try to protect the lives on the ground.

.

 

Question for you guys. Even if its proven there was absolutely nothing they could do to salvage the situation and they did everything right. Will they ever fly again? Or is there careers essentially over?

 

The answer is, it depends...

If it was found that they did something dumb, or weren't following procedures, were perhaps lower than they should have been or were where they shouldn't have been, then the are going to be pedestrians.

If it was determined they had an engine failure where and when they did, and they did what they could to the best of anybody's ability, it wouldn't be a career smasher.

Just depends on what the accident board decides. Only problem is that a lot of these things get looked at in 20/20 hindsight. If there was any way for GOD to get the plane to a more appropriate crash site or to keep it from becoming an evening news item, then you were a dog for not being Sully...

 

Crazy but both engines had separate faliures at the same time.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/02/us/virginia-f-18-crash/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Sounds to me like the pilots are off the hook

 

Fortunate for all involved... I'm kinda curious what they come up with for dual engine failure EP.

 

I believe the checklist for dual engine failure will read:

Task #1: Place your head between your legs.
Task #2: Kiss your ass goodbye.

 

What's the guy called who would be in charge of maintenance on that
aircraft? Besides fired.

Haven't those engines been in use for long enough that at least one of the failures could have been recognized by properly trained maintenance crews? One issue slipping through the cracks, "people are human" but two separate unrelated catastrophic issues sounds like real negligence on the part of maintenance crews.

 

You really don't know how Things will change as hey age and it's possible to accidentally discover a new failure mode out of the blue. Several friends were flying the C-130 that had all four engines roll back on takeoff out of Baghdad a few years back. Kinda gave very one pause to think about that one. Fortunately they all lived and there is a new emergency procedure as a result that would give best chance for recovery.

 

When both engines go (or all four on the C-130) it almost has to be a fault that is probably not the engines per se.

Fuel interruption, electrical, or... something that interferes with engine operation.

Both engines failing concurrently due to engine failure is too big a stretch, I think.